Mr. Weaver has made an excellent point regarding BR&CF.
You're buying a membership from them, not an insurance policy. And there's a big difference between the two terms.
BR&CF (Brotherhood Relief and Compensation Fund) is an organization made up of former railroad employees. They've "been there, done that" and know how railroads discipline people. They're not a "for profit" company. Money they collect in dues/premiums is the member's money; therefore there's no point to denying reasonable claims and making a profit for the organization.
All the other job insurance plans are written by insurance companies. For profit companies. And they're not run by former rails. The major difference here is once a claim is paid, the insurance companies can require you to pay them back if your union overturns your discipline case and you're "made whole" with back pay/lost time.
What did I just say? That's right! BRCF has no means nor ability to demand funds paid out to be returned; it's not in their by-laws. But, any other plan can demand their money back; they insure against lost wages, but once you get your wages back, they want their money back.
I know one case where a guy served 30 days. A year later, he won his case and was made whole. The little P.O.S. Trainmaster knew he collected job insurance, made a phone call, and the poor guy had to pay back his money!
In order to verify my statements, I urge everyone looking at "canned plans" to call each one and talk to a claims agent, not just some flunky that answers the phones. Ask them point blank: "...If my suspension/dismissal gets overturned at a later date and I'm reinstated with back pay, do I have to pay back the money your plan gave me?" BRCF will tell you NO, the money's yours to keep, congratulations on winning your case. The others will say YES, we can request the money be paid back only if we find out you won your case, so don't tell us about it.
There are other complications to the job insurance plans, too. Say for example you're an Amtrak hogger out of Denver and you "bump" into a BNSF freight train stopped ahead of you. Amtrak gives you 30 days, but the BNSF bars you from their track for 180. What do you collect? Amtrak's 30 or BNSF's 180? Your employer allows you to "work" after 30, but you can't really "work". How do you collect the other 150 days? Or you're an NS Conductor that works a regular job on a pig train from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg. Your hoghead does something goofy in Harrisburg and you get 15 days as a result, in addition to a 90 day bar from coming into the Harrisburg Division's Harrisburg terminal. Well, your job goes to Harrisburg, you can't work it, so do you collect 15 or 90 days?
Don't waste your time asking your co-worker that's trying to sell you "their" policy... call the company that issues the plan and ask a top level person these questions, and be governed accordingly.
As a post script, I fly the friendly skies with two plans... a $102/day BRCF and $100/day "other"... that way if I get splattered, my wife will collect 2 life insurance pay outs. Each plan requires a minimum premium to qualify for the Accidental Death benefit, so I pay the two minimums and have $200/day coverage from two companies instead of one...
